Don't count on

OUR VIEW:

September 10, 2001

Vandy votes,

Mr. Bonior

By HERALD TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD

It appears Congressman Bonior, who is expected to visit Gaylord next Saturday for the annual dinner for northern Michigan Democrats, has alienated at least a portion of the county by suggesting Vanderbilt - best known as "The Gateway to the Pigeon River Country State Forest" - is perhaps a gateway to a not-so-hospitable community.

The story goes Bonior and his wife made a 325-mile hike from his home turf of Mount Clemens to Mackinaw City back in 1997. Along the way they had planned to stay at Vanderbilt's only motel - The Elkland.

Bonior recollects his staff making a reservation at the motel weeks before the walk. But he never stayed there. In his newly published book "Walking to Mackinac" ( David E. Bonior, Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan Press), Bonior alleges "when we called back weeks later to confirm, however, the chilling response was 'We don't want his kind around here.' Certainly, we will avoid Vanderbilt…"

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While Bonior may have steered clear of Vanderbilt then, he didn't avoid it in his book. The 251-page tome devotes a couple of pages to the village and in a few paragraphs, he takes some pretty good jabs at the community - a community which, by the way, Mr. Bonior, has 300 registered voters, give or take a few.

His words indicate he feared he might encounter some hostility in the quiet village and made reference to an aide who agreed "to rescue us from Vanderbilt…

"This tiny village…does not feel welcoming to me," he concluded in the next paragraph.

Now an incensed Vanderbilt Village Council has demanded an apology from the man who would be governor. In a letter to the representative, Village President Elizabeth Haus remarked "I cannot believe that you would allow the opinion of one person to turn you against a small town." Unless the apology comes, Mr. Bonior likely will forfeit any chance of garnering votes from Vanderbilt folks. And remember that presidential election.

While The Elkland Motel people can't really recall the incident, they acknowledge there may have been a mixup with the reservation. There's no way, they say, they would have discriminated against someone because they were a Democrat.

Since we've not read the entire book, one has to wonder what other communities along the route may have received less-than-flattering reviews from Mr. Bonior.

And why would someone who wants to be governor go out of his way to alienate potential supporters? Wisdom of that person might be called into question.

Mrs. Haus makes a good point: Mr. Bonior was way off base to make a single alleged phone call the basis on which to publicly label a community as "not welcoming." No doubt, his words will reverberate for some time.

But that also brings up another point that in no way is meant as a defense of Bonior. We must remember in our day-to-day encounters what we say and how we say it, especially in our heavily service-based economy, makes a definite impression. It can cost us customers, it can cost us our reputations, and it certainly can cost us money.